Image production systems, such as printers and copiers, often include a rotatable image-receiving member, usually in the form of a belt or a drum, for receiving on its surface a marking substance, such as toner or ink, in image form, from a rotatable image carrying member, usually also in the form of a drum or a belt. The image-receiving member may either receive the image directly on its surface or on a recording medium conveyed on its surface. The images of marking substance are transferred from the image-carrying member to the image-receiving member in a transfer zone where the image-receiving member and the image-carrying member are in rolling contact. The transfer may take place by means of pressure, or heat, or electrostatic forces, or magnetic forces, or vibrational forces, or a combination of some of the afore-mentioned forces and effects. The image may be a monochrome image or a composite image. In the latter case, to enable multi-color printing, a plurality of process colors and a plurality of image-carrying members may be provided, each image-carrying member for carrying a separation image of the respective process color. In operation, each of the plurality of image carrying members is engaged in rolling contact with the image-receiving member along its path of rotation thereby defining transfer zones where the separation images of the respective process colors are sequentially transferred in registration to the image-receiving member thereby forming a composite image of marking substance. The slightest misregistration may lead to visual print quality degradation. To form an accurate and clear composite image on the image-receiving member, the rotational and lateral position of the respective image carrying members as well as the image-receiving member must be mutually precisely aligned and this alignment must be maintained in use. Rotational position errors lead to registering errors in the process direction, i.e., the propagation direction of the medium. This phenomenon is also referred to as tangential image misregistration. Tangential image misregistration is usually controlled by adequately controlling the timing of the formation of the respective separation images and any subsequent image transfers. Lateral position errors lead to registering errors along the axis of rotation of the respective image-carrying and/or image-receiving members, i.e., the direction perpendicular to the process direction. This phenomenon is also referred to as axial image misregistration. For instance, lateral position errors may be caused by wobbling of a rotating image-carrying and/or image-receiving member, thermal effects resulting in variations of the dimensions or the position of the image-carrying and/or image-receiving member. To prevent or at least limit axial image misregistration, one may opt to form register marks in the respective process colors on the respective image carrying member and subsequently transfer them to the image-receiving member. By determining the axial positions of the respective register marks on the image receiving member or on the recording medium, an indication may be obtained for the potential axial disposition of an image-carrying element with respect to the image-receiving element or with respect to any other image-carrying element. This determination may be done by means of an image sensing device and may be done periodically or continuously, i.e., without interrupting the printing process. Control means and displacement means may be provided to make adjustments responsive to such indication to the lateral position of one or more image-carrying elements and/or the image receiving element. Examples of displacement means include a lateral positioning motor, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,664, or an actuator. Although the described approach for limiting axial image misregistration may work fine in most operating conditions, it does not deal effectively with sudden changes in the lateral position of one or more of the cycling members, such as e.g., changes caused by leaning on or accidentally pushing against the printing system. In the latter case, printing must be stopped and the system must be re-calibrated before continuing the printing process.